June's YA Books & Meet Myra McEntire

If you’ve been looking for an engaging contemporary or an engrossing paranormal
to take to the beach or the pool this summer, you are in luck. June is bursting
out all over with both fun and frightening reads.

Paranormal Reads There’s no shortage of books for lovers of a good fantasy themed novel, starting with HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire. Emerson can travel through time, which catches the attention of the mysterious Hourglass organization, and handsome Michael Weaver--who needs her for a task only she can accomplish. It’s a time travel book for people who don’t think they like time travel books--but do like mystery and suspense and romance.

I caught up with author Myra McEntire to ask her about writing the book.

RCM: Myra, I love this concept of this book. There's time travel and romance
and mystery all rolled together. How did you come up with this idea?

Myra McEntire: I made it up as I went along. That sounds like a smart aleck answer, but it's true! It was so freeing to follow the whims of the story/characters and see where it all led me. Of course, I had to rewrite the heck out of it several times before it became what it is. You can't do that when you're on deadline, as I learned the hard way with the sequel. RCM: (Yay sequel!) This is a time travel novel that is much more about the characters than the mechanics. I liked how it just was and didn’t get in the way of the story. Did you consciously try to avoid a lot of "timey-whimey" jargon, as Dr. Who calls it? Myra McEntire: I knew I didn't want a machine, or any other conventional method associated with time travel - but I also knew I wanted the science to be as close to "right" as I could get it. I did a TON of research (and I loved every single second of it).

RCM: One of the questions that makes time travel stories so interesting (to me,
anyway) is the idea of changing the past, which of course comes up in Hourglass.
Could you? Should you?

Myra McEntire: In some cases yes, in others no. And I love the fact that with the time travel genre nothing has to be permanent, and most things are NOT coincidental.

RCM: If you could go back in time and change one event, in your life or in
history--without any negative consequences or paradoxes--what would it be?

Myra McEntire: I'd start writing seriously way, way earlier. I'd love to have a trunk full of unfinished novels and all those years of the joy of creating them. Myra’s joy in creating HOURGLASS definitely shows. You can see for yourself when it comes out on June 14 from Egmount USA.

Other paranormals coming out this month? So many to chose from. Here are just a
few that are on my list:

POSSESSION

FAIRY BAD DAY

FORGOTTEN

POSSESSION by Elana Johnson. A dystopian novel with nothing less than freedom of thought on the line. Fast paced and twisty with more of a sassy voice than a lot of the dystopians I’ve read (and also enjoyed) lately. Oh, and also a love triangle. I understand a lot of people really like those. *whistles innocently*  (Simon Pulse; June 7) FAIRY BAD DAY by Amanda Ashby. A delightfully fun and fresh mashup of magic and humor and romance. Emma Jones have been training for years to follow in her dragon slaying mom’s footsteps. Imagine her chagrin when she’s assigned to slaying... fairies. She sure wasn’t expecting a seven-foot-tall fairy bent on destruction. Strong plotting, zippy writing from the author of “Zombie Queen of Newbury High.” (Speak; June 9) FORGOTTEN by Cat Patrick. On the meatier side, there’s this story of London, who wakes every morning with no memories of the past--only flashes of the future. She “remembers” what she’ll have for breakfast the next morning, but not what she wore to school the day before. She’s been getting by with the help of notes to herself (a la Memento, perhaps?) but then she falls in love with a boy she has no vision of in the future. A darker read, complex and highly unique. (Little Brown, June 7)

PASSION

TRIAL BY FIRE

FINS ARE FOREVER

Also coming out this month, these paranormal sequels to popular series:

PASSION by Lauren Kate (Delacorte; June ) TRIAL BY FIRE by Jennifer Lynn Barns (Egmont; June) FINS ARE FOREVER by Tera Lynn Childs (Katherine Tegan; June 21) Contemporary (i.e., non-paranormal) books

SPOILED

DON'T STOP NOW

NEVER SIT DOWN IN A HOOP SKIRT

Lots and lots of light and romantic contemporary novels this month (after a bit
of a drought). Here are just a couple perfect for summer reading.

SPOILED by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. The authors run the popular fashion-crimes blog Go Fug Yourself, which has long been a guilty pleasure of mine. So you’d expect this tale of a teen who discovers that her real father is a movie superstar, moves to LA and meets her gorgeous (spoiled) half-sister to be be wickedly funny and full of jabs at Hollywood pretension and ridiculousness. But it’s also has a lot of heart and emotional depth in the well drawn characters. Kirkus calls it “Obsessively readable and smartly subversive.”  (I got so sucked in by the first chapter, I had to buy it or risk losing the rest of my afternoon standing in the stacks at Barnes and Noble.) (Poppy; June 1) DON’T STOP NOW by Julie Halpern. A mysterious text from her (missing) friend Penny, who just may have faked her own kidnapping, sends Lillian off on a roadtrip with her BFF Josh, who just may be the love of her life. Publisher’s Weekly says this is “a summer road-trip novel suggestive of a John Hughes film,” so expect both humor and depth, and a real understanding for the outsider teen trying to figure things out. (Feiwel and Friends; June 7) NEVER SIT DOWN IN A HOOP SKIRT by Crickett Rumley. I confess, I picked this one for the title alone, because of this really embarrassing thing that happened to me when I helped out with a historical reenactment. But the subtitle is “and other things I learned in Southern Belle Hell” and that clinched it. Even the author’s first name speaks of Southern Belle authenticity.  After being kicked out of innumerable boarding schools, Jane has come to live with her grandmother in Alabama, and through a series of wacky events witty, punk-rock Jane ends up in the Magnolia Maids, where she turns things upside down, despite (or because of) her determination to be the best Maid ever. Jane is a snarky girl with a heart of gold, and the other Maids are quirky, diverse characters who enrich the story. This is a story about figuring out who you are on the inside, and about friendship, but there’s a touch of romance as well. (Yay!) (Egmont; June 14) Also worth noting are these contemporary sequels and new books from popular authors:

UNCOMMON CRIMINALS

WITHERING TIGHTS

TEN THINGS WE DID

UNCOMMON CRIMINALS by Ally Carter (Hyperion; June 21) WITHERING TIGHTS by Louise Rennison (HarperTeen; June 28) TEN THINGS WE DID (AND PROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVE) by Sarah Mlynowski (HarperTeen; June 7)

That should keep you busy until July, when a whole new wave of fabulous books
comes along. Until then, happy reading!

Rosemary Clement-Moore writes Young Adult books because she loves to read them. Visit her webpage or blog to find out more about her award winning Maggie Quinn: Girl vs. Evil series, and her gothic romance, THE SPLENDOR FALLS (now in paperback). Next up is TEXAS GOTHIC.